Mekong Delta emerged on the metal scene as a mystery band, with
the story being that the members were under contract to other bands
and thus could not reveal their true identities.
Early lineups featured Rage mainman Peavey Wagner (and other Rage
members as well), but by the time of the first album, a firm lineup
was established, consisting of the following members (the real names
were not known for a number of years): Keil
(Wolfgang Borgmann),
Rolf Stein (Frank Fricke, then in Living Death),
Vincent St. John
(Reiner Kelch, also of Living Death), Bjorn Eklund (Ralf Hubert),
and Gordon Perkins (Jörg Michael,
then in Rage).
The band continued to use pseudonyms for several years (Uwe
Baltrusch was listed as Mark Kaye, and Uli Kusch as Patrick
Duval).
Eventually the real names were revealed, and by 1990 (when
Dances Of Death was released) all but Jörg Michael were using
their true names.
The music of Mekong Delta is best described as Germanic thrash, with
strong progressive and classical tendencies.
When they're at their best they are almost untouchable, though at
other times the arrangements are a bit too chaotic.
Several of the albums are of the hit-and-miss affair, with
The Music Of Erich Zann arguably one of their better and most
consistent releases.
Over the course of their career the band has covered several
classical pieces (mostly by Mussorsky), and these have been
re-released as the Classics compilation.
The last album is all-instrumental and is entirely based on
classical pieces, with vocalist Doug Lee not appearing even though
he was still considered a member of the band at the time.
With no recordings in eight years and little word from the band,
rumors began to circulate that leader Ralf Hubert had left the
country and/or had even died.
In fact Hubert is alive and well, and with a new lineup in place,
Mekong Delta released their first album in a decade, Lurking Fear,
in 2007.
Hubert and another new lineup are as of this writing (August 2009) working
on "Wanderer On The Edge Of Time".